Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben

UFC 5-7-0 vs. 12-10-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
5-7-0
UFC record
12-10-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
50
AgeΔ 4 yrs
46
5'11"
HeightΔ 0"
5'11"
74"
ReachΔ 1"
73"
Orthodox
Stance
Southpaw
161.2
Layoff (months)Δ 9.9 mo
151.3
WLWLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLLW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Wanderlei Silva carries real power — 1.11 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Wanderlei Silva rarely shoots — 0.25 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.
Chris Leben is a submission threat — 0.75 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.47 Middleweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Wanderlei Silva

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 59
Tier 3 — regional circuit 275

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.69 · 5 tier-1/2 wins · 26 finish wins over 48 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.1 wins over .500

Chris Leben

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1610
Tier 3 — regional circuit 62

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.15 · 16 tier-1/2 wins · 17 finish wins over 34 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.4 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

3252.66/min · norm 3.41
Sig. strikes landed
5722.88/min · norm 3.25
3913.21/min · norm 3.35
Sig. strikes absorbed
5672.85/min · norm 3.20
33.6%norm 48.3%
Striking accuracy
42.9%norm 47.4%
62.8%norm 52.9%
Striking defense
53.1%norm 53.8%
91.11/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
50.38/15 · norm 0.32

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Wanderlei Silva

Distance 84.1% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 10.9% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 5.1% (norm 10.4%)

Chris Leben

Distance 63.2% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 22.4% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 14.4% (norm 10.3%)

What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)

Wanderlei Silva

Head 85.7% (norm 79.2%) · Body 5.9% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 8.4% (norm 9.7%)

Chris Leben

Head 74.0% (norm 78.0%) · Body 11.4% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 14.6% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Silva L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Leben L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 229 / 812 28.2% 41.4% 284 / 842 33.7% 40.5%
In the clinch 65 / 105 61.9% 70.9% 162 / 299 54.2% 70.3%
On the ground 31 / 49 63.3% 72.3% 126 / 192 65.6% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 228 / 828 27.5% 38.9% 345 / 987 35.0% 38.9%
To the body 43 / 57 75.4% 71.9% 95 / 152 62.5% 71.7%
To the legs 54 / 81 66.7% 81.8% 132 / 194 68.0% 83.3%

Zones with fewer than 25 attempts are marked "too few to rate". Each fighter is measured against the median of leaderboard-eligible fighters in his own division (Light Heavyweight: 93 fighters · Middleweight: 174 fighters).

What lands on them Opponents' accuracy against each man

Green ≤ division median — harder to hit than the typical man in his division.

Zone vs Silva L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Leben L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 329 / 933 35.3% 40.4% 326 / 791 41.2% 39.5%
In the clinch 31 / 57 54.4% 68.7% 142 / 239 59.4% 70.9%
On the ground 31 / 60 51.7% 70.4% 99 / 178 55.6% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 282 / 906 31.1% 37.5% 396 / 979 40.4% 37.9%
To the body 68 / 93 73.1% 72.3% 115 / 154 74.7% 71.3%
To the legs 41 / 51 80.4% 83.0% 56 / 75 74.7% 82.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
240.0% acc · 0.25/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
1745.9% acc · 1.28/15 · norm 1.42
1248.0% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
3954.9% def · norm 63.1%
4:193.6% of cage time · norm 16.5%
Control time
52:3626.4% of cage time · norm 19.75%
24:082:58 per 15 · norm 2:48
Time under control
58:414:25 per 15 · norm 3:00
10.12/15 · norm 0.27
Submission attempts
100.75/15 · norm 0.47

Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Leben has more cage time on record.